logitech harmony

Even though most TVs in our living rooms are becoming smart ones, we often connect them to third-party devices such as set-top boxes, sound systems, and DVD/Blu-Ray players. Using a separate remote control for each can be a pain, mainly because at least one of them is likely to vanish, but also because it's simply inconvenient to switch between several controllers. With the Harmony Smart Control kit, Logitech offers to group all these remotes into a single one, and even control your devices using your phone or smart speaker. Originally sold at $130, the product is now down to $50, which is quite an attractive discount.

Best Buy pushed out a small mountain of early Black Friday deals last week, and if you didn't manage to snag any of them, don't worry, but do rush. There's only a handful of hours left before they go all pumpkin-shaped. For ease and convenience, we've put together a handful of the better ones we've spotted.

Harmony's history with Google Home and Assistant goes way back. When support for the service first rolled out, it was an Actions on Google integration (or Assistant app). That meant you had to "ask Harmony to do something" every time, which only worked with your own voice (no support for other home members unless they added the account in their own Assistant) and was very inconvenient. Sure, you could create shortcuts/routines to avoid having to say "ask Harmony" for every command, but even those were voice-dependent and you had to manually set up an equivalent shortcut for every action.

Direct integration for Harmony with Assistant — so it would work like Hue, Nest, LIFX, and others — was promised in May.

Our entertainment setups are getting more and more complicated nowadays. You start with the TV as an essential, then can expand to include sound systems, DVD/Blu-Ray players, cable TV and other set-top boxes, gaming systems, and more. If you don't want to juggle remotes and lose half of them to the hungry couch, you need something like the Harmony remotes. They replace all your remotes with one and, today, you can grab one for a smidgen over $50.

Logitech's last-gen universal smart home remote, the Harmony Ultimate, went on sale for $119.99 earlier this month. If you missed out on that deal, the remote is even cheaper now. It's currently $99.99 from Best Buy and the Best Buy eBay store.

If you weren't aware, Logitech has a line of universal remotes under the 'Harmony' name. In addition to controlling TVs/media centers/game consoles, they can also manage a wide range of smart home devices. It's even slated to get direct integration with Google Assistant, so you should soon be able to ask a Google Home to control devices managed by Harmony (like switching the channel on your TV).

Support for the Google Assistant is ramping up from major and minor smart home device makers alike. It was only this January that we reported the Assistant had support for 1500 devices, but now that number has jumped, nay, soared to 5000 devices. Along with that happy threshold comes the news of many other upcoming integrations for our favorite smart home assistant.

If you're neck-deep in smart home devices, trying to control all of them from one place can be difficult. A smart speaker, like an Amazon Echo or Google Home, is one option. Another is to buy a Logitech Harmony remote, which can interact with both entertainment systems and smart home stuff. Or you can buy one of each, and get $100 off compared to the usual prices ($129 for a Home, about $250 for the remote).

Logitech's Harmony remotes are probably the best smart remotes in the business - they're easy to use, quick to set up, and well made. Today the Harmony Smart Control is $60 off on Amazon or Best Buy - 46% off - bringing the price down to $69.99.

The Harmony Smart Control means many appliances in your house - cable TV boxes, streaming boxes, televisions, game consoles and a lot more - can be controlled via either the included remote, or your phone provided you download the app from Google Play. This is made possible through the Harmony Hub, which converts RF signals to either Bluetooth or infrared, letting your phone control anything the Harmony system is compatible with - that's over 270,000 devices.

A smart home is every geek's dream, so it's great to see the idea becoming more and more of a reality, with Nest, Alexa, Google Assistant (soon), and Apple's HomeKit making our homes smarter and automated. Accessory maker Logitech, which already has the Harmony Remote, is adding to its range with the Logitech POP button and accompanying app.

The POP can control a lot of devices, from Phillips Hue lightbulbs to Sonos speakers, to door locks and blinds, plus of course the Harmony platform. Each button can be programmed with three individual commands which can then do a host of different things to control your home.